Food additives,chemicals in the water and in the air we breathe..... If you cook with plastic ware,transferring BPH is almost certain in older cookware.

There could be many reasons, depending on how the statistic is measured; for example is it per capita or larger because the population has grown? It's getting more socially acceptable to have some types of mental illness, has reporting simply increased?

I should think that there has always been a pressure to keep up with the Jones for some people, like the manager in, 'The Full Monty' it's a very middle class thing as they are encouraged to see their worth in material objects which compensate for such a large part of their life being taken up managing things that the major asset holders pay them to do for them, whilst the asset owners keep an eye on the overall picture.

Obviously the lower income earner often has their work cut out simply feeding themselves and putting a roof over their head, which can all go wrong in a month or two without pay. Stress? It's a state of mind and being able to help friends and family is no small thing when it comes to protecting their mental health. I think greed, lack of empathy and/ or ethics are the enemies here, not capitalism per se, which works fine in many ways.